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Time magazine's selection of Bill and Melinda Gates to share its 'Persons of the Year' designation appears to be universally applauded here in Seattle.

Small wonder.

For anyone who has been paying attention in recent years, it would be hard to take issue. Only a heartless ogre could begrudge the effort or oppose the goal of eliminating deadly disease that has poverty as a root cause."

By now we've all heard a lot about (and some of us have made a living commentating on) something called corporate responsibility (CR). CR is meant to be about generating greater levels of accountability and transparency from mainly, though not exclusively, for-profit organizations, especially big multinational corporations. It is hoped that through such improvements, governance, ethics and stakeholder relations can be bettered in the interests of all.

In Asia, the concept of CR is still largely misunderstood and loosely applied, but the corporate sector is, by and large, making some headway. It's often ponderous and perhaps cynical, but there are signs of life."

In a ruling issued Tuesday, Attorney General Greg Abbott said such poker runs, which involve participants making a monetary donation to a nonprofit cause and then riding to a predetermined location and drawing a poker hand for cash, are a 'lottery' set up by the motorcycle club and constitute illegal gambling.The Texas Penal Code defines a lottery as 'any scheme or procedure whereby one or more prizes are distributed by chance among persons who have paid or promised consideration for a chance to win anything of value, whether such scheme or procedure is called a pool, lottery, raffle, gift, gift enterprise, sale, policy game, or some other name.'However, Abbott's ruling refers only to cash prizes awarded at the end of poker runs and notes that any nonprofit organization sponsoring a poker run where participants receive a five-card hand for each $10 donation they make to a charitable cause violates Chapter 47.03 of the Penal Code."

Rocky Mountain News: Speakout: "Speakout: Where did the bedrock of charity go?STORY TOOLSEmail this story | PrintBy Richard Male, Special to the NewsDecember 30, 2005For a brief moment last summer, Americans saw terrible poverty exposed on national television. As the floodwaters and high winds of Hurricane Katrina stripped away buildings, America's shame was broadcast around the world. Our shame that - in this land of plenty - one in five residents of Louisiana and Mississippi lived in poverty. And yet, terrible as the disaster was, many human-service nonprofits saw an opportunity. Surely, they reasoned, now that the entire world has seen how America treats its poor, there will be a change. Surely our government will be shamed into action.

In 1962, when Michael Harrington's seminal work, The Other America, was released, President Kennedy was shocked to read of the vast subculture of poverty and vowed to do something about it. Sadly, the War on Poverty has largely been ignored since the Reagan years. Indeed, the current administration could almost be said to be waging a war on poor people themselves. In 2004, 37 million people in the U.S. lived in poverty, up 1.1 million from 2003."

Finders Keepers?'Antiquities Gotcha' threatens some of the world's best museums.

BY ERIC GIBSONFriday, December 30, 2005 12:01 a.m. EST

The parlor game of the moment is 'Antiquities Gotcha.' The aim is to ask pointed questions that cast doubt on the collections of any number of elite institutions. For instance: 'Did the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and, say, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts really come about their holdings of antique vases and statuary in a lawful manner?' Or: 'Will former Getty curator Marion True, on trial in Rome for conspiring to traffic in looted art, go to jail?' Or, most momentously: 'Will the Met and other museums have to return items in their collections to a country of origin?'

These are hardly unimportant questions, to be sure. Museums stand for many things in our society, and one of the most fundamental is probity. In theory, no object enters their collections when its authenticity is in doubt. And museums are required to exercise due diligence when they receive a new object, checking its ownership history."

Thursday, December 29, 2005

TheStar.com - Spreading the wealth: "Canadians donated $6.9 billion last year, driving philanthropic giving to record levels. Here are a few of the business elite contributing to that amount
Dec. 28, 2005. 11:00 AM
SHARDA PRASHAD
BUSINESS REPORTER

For the founder of Shoppers Drug Mart, giving away his fortune is about filling a need.

Believing that students studying pharmacy need to have skills in business as well as science, Murray Koffler gave a substantial gift to start the University of Toronto's Koffler Institute of Pharmacy"

More than 2,200 nonprofit groups have received grants from the Environmental Protection Agency over the past decade, including some of the Bush administration's toughest critics on environmental policy. "

The $7 million foundation at the center of two state investigations into its spending has essentially disappeared, its president has given up his law practice and he has put his Roanoke estate up for sale.

The Olin B. and Desta Schwab Foundation had been a tenant in the law offices of Beckman Lawson LLP, where foundation president Richard H. Blaich was an attorney. But just weeks after The Journal Gazette reported that $1.5 million of foundation money had been used to buy a luxury resort home outside of Las Vegas, movers showed up and took the foundation’s furniture, files and equipment, said Craig Patterson, the law firm’s managing partner. Blaich had been let go from the firm the day after the Aug. 28 story was published."

Somewhere between the rash of direct-mail charity appeals before the holidays and the inevitable moral inventory prior to the coming of the new year, I realized with dismal clarity that I'd been uncharitable in 2005. Beliefnet.com's message board suggests that faith-based tithing of your annual salary ranges from two percent for Muslims to 10 percent for Jews and Christians (one pagan claims they tithe 13 percent). A rough calculation suggests I donated less than three tenths of a percent of my income in 2005.

I consider myself a reasonably upright person. I work with children, remove trash from the beach, tip well in restaurants, and obey the speed limit most of the time. Yet when it comes to charity, I'm a skinflint. When confronted with a solicitation, I develop a vague feeling in the pit of my stomach, convincing myself that I'll get around to donating later when I have more time to think about it. My desk often collects piles of appeal letters which, months later, I throw out during a clean up. Sometimes I tell myself I'd love to give, but decide that there's no point in donating unless I can pony up $25 or $50, which would take too big a bite out of my checkbook. These excuses work to keep my charitable giving at a subterranean level"

The Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004 was a catastrophe of enormous proportions and the greatest natural disaster ever to challenge the United Nations' 60-year-old system of humanitarian assistance, according to a report issued December 22 by the U.N. Foundation marking the one-year anniversary of the disaster.

Many organizations and governments have released year-end summaries on what they have been able to achieve to help the region recover and rebuild in the ensuing year, but the U.N. Foundation – established by U.S. media entrepreneur Ted Turner – goes a step further with its summary, extracting lessons that might help the world respond more effectively to the next catastrophic event.

Its report underscores the importance of making emergency funding available within hours of an event and cites what it expects to become an improvement in the humanitarian emergency response -- the U.N. establishment of the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF)."

The state Department of Licensing this year approved 19 new specialty license plates that cost a little extra, but show off a driver's devotion.

Vancouver resident Ann Labe is touting one specialty plate for animal lovers. It would fund a statewide pet spay and neuter program. Thanks to her hounding, state representatives passed the legislation allowing the plates the first year it was introduced."

The Better Business Bureau, Inc, serving Eastern Massachusetts, Maine, and Vermont announced today its Check out a Charity educational campaign. The campaign encourages consumers and companies to Give But Give Wisely (tm) by checking out a charity's report with the BBB before donating.
'The BBB encourages families to give with their heads as well as their hearts this holiday season to help ensure that their generosity is being used appropriately by charitable organizations,' said Kevin J. Sanders, president & CEO of the Better Business Bureau, Inc. serving Eastern MA, ME & VT. 'We hope that the following tips will help donors give wisely and avoid being taken. We are also pleased to announce that the Bureau will be strengthening its charity reporting activities and launching a program that will evaluate charities in relation to a set of comprehensive accountability standards.'

The dozens of boxes, a recent gift from Fidelity Investments and its employees, helped Senior Services overcome a year's trend in which many individuals directed their contributions to other relief efforts.

WHILE hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis greeted our world with incomprehensible destruction this past year, that destruction inspired extraordinary American generosity — and illuminated a serious need to make our giving more effective.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina especially, we were reminded also of the critical role philanthropy plays in American life. We rely on nonprofits and foundations to use our donations effectively and efficiently, and to apply our giving as it was intended — for the benefit and well-being of our fellow citizens."

TownOnline.com - West Roxbury & Roslindale Transcript - Local News: "Philanthropy - especially $28.8 billion worth of it - is always a nice gesture.
But when it comes from one of the wealthiest couples alive and goes to Boston Public Schools, it can be staggering.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, worth more than $28 billion, according to its Web site, recently awarded Boston Public Schools with a $9 million grant that will help keep select smaller schools, such as West Roxbury High School, small. The school was split up earlier this year into four separate schools. "

USATODAY.com - Rose follows Magic in helping Detroit youths get to college: "Rose follows Magic in helping Detroit youths get to college
Jalen Rose of the Toronto Raptors is the only athlete listed among Black Enterprise magazine's top 15 black philanthropists. His charitable efforts include five annual $10,000 college scholarships to seniors in Detroit's public school system. Rose, who has 15 students in college at his expense, talked with USA TODAY NBA reporter Roscoe Nance about the 5-year-old program, which is funded through the Jalen Rose Foundation."

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

It's been another successful Christmas campaign for Ottawa's Food Bank, but the relief agency is still hard at work even after Christmas Day.

The executive director of The Food Bank, Peter Tilley, says although there has been talk of 'donor fatigue' this holiday season, he hasn't seen any evidence of it. 'Not in a huge amount,' he says.

With last year's Boxing Day tsunami, the earthquake in Pakistan, the hurricane in New Orleans, people have been donating in record amounts in 2005, but Tilley says, 'This is a great community! They've looked after people internationally, but they also always remember to look after their own at home and look after their neighbours.'"

Dec. 27, 2005 - Public service announcements will begin running in January, when the first wave of baby boomers start to turn 60. Recognizing the extraordinary potential for social good among America’s 77 million baby boomers, the Corporation for National and Community Service begins a multi-year public service ad campaign that asks baby boomers to get involved in their communities."

Nearly 50 people have been indicted in connection with a scheme that bilked hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Red Cross program to put cash into the hands of Hurricane Katrina victims, according to federal authorities."

PITTSBURGH -- The University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University are among 25 U.S. colleges and universities in the midst of campaigns to raise $1 billion or more.

Experts say that's not just good news for the schools, but for the economy of Pittsburgh and the surrounding region.

'Even if you use a fairly conservative multiplier effect of three or four times, assuming a lot of this is new dollars coming into Pittsburgh, it's a significant impact on a community and a tremendous source of pride to a community,' said John Lippencott, president of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. The group represents fundraisers at 3,200 colleges and universities."

"Philanthropy experts say people should follow their hearts in giving. They also say that targeted giving like that of the Considines can help charitable groups because it provides a predictable stream of income so they can plan long-term projects.

'Unlike the stock market, you really shouldn't be diversifying your giving,' said Sandra Miniutti, spokeswoman for Charity Navigator, a nonprofit group based in Mahwah, N.J., that evaluates philanthropic groups. 'It's best if you stick with a charity over time, make a commitment for the long haul.'

Donors also should check out the charitable and nonprofit groups they want to support to make sure they're spending their money wisely, she added."

In the coming decades, legacy gifts from a new generation of wealthy Americans will bring a sharp increase in donations to U.S. charities, according to a Harrison Group survey of 500 of the country's wealthiest families, Financial Times reported Dec. 14.

Survey respondents were predominantly white males, at an average age of 54 and with average net assets of $28 million.

These donors plan to bequeath 22 percent of their wealth to charities, or a total of $4.5 trillion among 750,000 households across the U.S. with similar assets, survey results indicated."

It has become traditional at this time of year to bemoan the materialism that greets both Christmas, the day that for Christians marks the birth of Jesus Christ, and, increasingly, Hanukkah, the Jewish celebration of lights. This year, the two happen to coincide, heightening attention to wasteful extravagance — witness the uptick in gift-giving of 'personal services,' such as face-lifts for friends and a day-in-the-country for canines.

But that's only one side of the story. 2005 should first be remembered as proof that giving unto others hasn't given up the ghost to Christmas Past.

Time magazine's 'Persons of the Year'' for 2005 are three people committed to public health and poverty relief in the world. Microsoft founder Bill Gates and wife Melinda Gates — whose foundation, with its $29 billion endowment, is the world's richest charity — were honored for giving astronomical amounts of money to fight AIDS and malaria in poor regions, especially in Africa.

The third in the honored trio is Bono, lead singer of the Irish band U2. In July, Bono persuaded world leaders at the G-8 summit to double aid to Africa to $50 billion a year by 2010 and erase the debt of"

The largest gift to the Good Cheer Fund this Christmas season has been given by the employees of Blackbaud. Their contribution of $25,000 represents donations from individual employees and a company match."

San Luis Obispo Tribune | 12/27/2005 | A stuffed mailbox: "Generosity's reward
A stuffed mailbox
Marty London of Grover Beach is enthusiastic about supporting charities but annoyed by the influx of junk mail that results; nonprofit organizations say spending money on mailers is necessary to help raise money for their missions
Nathan Welton
The Tribune

Grover Beach resident Marty London upended a large sack on his office table on a recent afternoon, spilling out hundreds of envelopes from national charities.

Some of the solicitations looked like official business correspondence, while others advertised free Christmas cards or mailing labels or wall calendars. One proudly displayed a personal note from a former president.

'I don't know why Jimmy Carter is writing to me,' London muttered.

Last January, he decided to answer one of those big mysteries: How much nonprofit junk mail really arrives in that mailbox?

So he started collecting. And collecting. And collecting. Now, after almost a year, he's gathered about 300 requests for money."

Giving Makes Change, a new half-hour documentary on Alabama Public Television, showcases the true, empowering stories of folks throughout the state who helped earn Alabama its place of honor on the latest annual ranking of charitable states produced by the Catalogue for Philanthropy."

These days, however, institutions say they are seeing a boom in donors whose connection to the campus isn't a diploma, but their child's tuition bill.

From large public universities to small liberal-arts colleges, more parents with resources are giving to campuses their children attend. Administrators view it as a perk of attracting students whose parents take an active part in their lives."

Blacks donate 25% more of their discretionary income to charity than do whites, according to a Chronicle of Philanthropy study. And 90% of that giving is to churches or religious institutions. A study by the Coalition for New Philanthropy found that blacks contributed slightly more than Hispanic- and Asian-Americans in New York City do. But secular black cultural centers, such as museums, are often overlooked."

When Rebecca Kendall thinks about 2002 and her stint on the Central Indiana Community Foundation board, she thinks about how close the CICF came to disintegrating.

The fledgling product of a merger of the old-line Indianapolis Foundation and the Hamilton County Legacy Fund, CICF was in the throes of creating its strategic plan. It also was staring at a $1 million operational deficit.
How could President Brian Payne persuade a reticent board to buy into a strategic plan if he couldn't balance the budget?"

NEW YORK, Dec. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- The New York Regional Association of Grantmakers (NYRAG), which represents the world's largest concentration of philanthropic capital and some $3.5 billion in annual giving, today announced that its members have given more than $240 million, or 13 percent of all private U.S. donations, to help rebuild areas affected by the South Asia tsunami."

NORWALK -- The global natural disasters of the past year demanded more from philanthropic donors, but individuals and businesses dug deeper to support local organizations, several members of fundraising groups said.

Charities collected a tremendous amount in donations in response to events such as the Asian tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and the Pakistani earthquake, which collectively killed more than 308,000 people. Despite this overwhelming need internationally, local groups such as the United Way and YMCA are meeting fundraising goals."

December 23, 2005 – The Direct Marketing Association Nonprofit Federation (DMANF) on December 22 announced it was reviewing a just-released report from New York Attorney General Elliot Spitzer's office that attempts to measure nonprofit efficiency based on a sample of telemarketing campaigns in the state of New York. The DMANF said it was 'pleased to note that the report acknowledges there are legitimate instances where the financial efficiency of a specific campaign does not tell the full story.'

According to the report, in 2004, nonprofit organizations used telephone solicitations to collect $63.5 million for worthy causes in New York. Telephone remains a successful and efficient method for charities to raise funds and build awareness.

DMANF said it agreed with NY Attorney General Eliot Spitzer that it is incumbent upon nonprofit organizations to solicit bids in advance of contracting out with a professional fundraiser. 'However, the decision by a nonprofit to work with a professional fundraiser must be based on the specific goals and objectives, which may range from advocating, to raising funds, to building awareness, or educating the general public on important matters,' DMANF added."

All Things Considered, December 26, 2005 · Robert Siegel talks with Gene Tempel, executive director of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, about what we have learned about fundraising after the tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, and the earthquake in Pakistan."

By Michael Martinez, Tribune national correspondent. Tribune correspondent Tim Jones contributed to this report
Published December 26, 2005

LOS ANGELES -- In cities from coast to coast, food bank operators are reporting that food and cash donations are down and the need is up.

In New York, some food pantry shelves are bare, a situation never seen before by 15-year employees. Food donations are off about a million pounds in a city that normally deals with 67 million pounds a year, officials said."

Monday, December 26, 2005

Asia Tsunami Disaster Full Coverage on Yahoo! News: "
AFPBritish girl, Thai boy join tsunami memorial as symbols of triumph
AFP - Sun Dec 25, 1:37 PM ET
PHUKET, Thailand - A young British girl who saved hundreds of lives by alerting people to last year's tsunami and a Thai boy who survived the waves will read poems at Monday's memorials as symbols of triumph over the disaster. Tilly Smith, who was 10 years old when the waves hit, will read a Thai poem entitled ' Tsunami', and Patiwat Komkla, then nine, will read another tsunami poem at a candle light vigil Monday evening. "